Producer Mike Bosner has announced a stage adaptation of the 1999 Touchstone Pictures film “10 Things I Hate About You.” The Broadway-aimed musical will feature a score by Grammy Award nominee Carly Rae Jepsen and Grammy winner Ethan Gruska and a book by Jessica Huang and Emmy Award nominee Lena Dunham. Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon is slated to direct and choreograph, with Tony winner Tom Kitt on board to provide music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations.
A modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” “10 Things I Hate About You” chronicles the challenges of late-1990s teenage life as seen through the eyes of sisters Kat and Bianca Stratford and their respective beaus. The film, which featured a screenplay by Karen McCullah and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, starred Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Larisa Oleynik.
Jepsen is known for her Grammy-nominated single “Call Me Maybe,” and albums “Kiss,” “Emotion,” “The Loneliest Time” and “the Loveliest Time.” Jepsen made her Broadway debut in 2014, replacing in the title role of “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella.” Gruska was a part of the indie pop duo Belle Brigade (alongside his sibling Bobby Gruska), before releasing several solo albums, including “Slowmotionary” and “En Garde.” Gruska won a Grammy for serving as a producer on the Boygenius album “The Record.”
Dunham created and starred in the television series “Girls,” for which she garnered a Golden Globe Award and several Emmy nominations. Huang’s collection of works as playwright and librettist include “Exiles,” “The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin” and “The Kim Loo Sisters,” in addition to the audioplay “Song of Northwoods.”
Bosner is a two-time Best Musical Tony nominee, having received nods for producing “Shucked” and “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” Wheeldon took home Best Choreography Tonys for “MJ” and “An American in Paris.” Kitt is also a two-time Tony victor, winning a Best Original Score award and Best Orchestrations award for “Next to Normal.”
A production timeline will be announced for “10 Things I Hate About You.” The musical is being produced by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical.
